


After Midnight

by schittposting



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, First Kiss, Light Angst, M/M, Making Out, New Year's Eve, New Year's Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-01-03
Packaged: 2021-04-21 16:55:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22095748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schittposting/pseuds/schittposting
Summary: They stare at each other for one breathless moment before David feels Patrick gently tugging on the ends of the scarf, tugging him forward until they’re almost touching, until David can feel his warm breath on his face.“You left before I could do this,” Patrick says, and then he closes the small gap between them and David feels those soft lips on his again.After months spent pining for each other, David and Patrick have their first kiss at midnight on New Year's Eve.
Relationships: Patrick Brewer/David Rose
Comments: 55
Kudos: 290





	After Midnight

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place in an alternate universe where David and Patrick's kiss during Grad Night never happened and they're still not together, but everything else is basically the same.

“3… 2… 1… Happy New Year!”

Champagne glass in hand, David looks around for someone to toast with, only to see everyone coupled up and kissing. Alexis and Ted are making out on the couch, having gotten back together a couple of months ago, and Stevie’s in the kitchen with her arms around some random. Then David sees Patrick standing next to him, looking up at him with those gorgeous, honey brown eyes. He sways toward him. And then, without consciously making the decision to, he’s kissing him.

Patrick’s lips are even more deliciously soft than David imagined over the months he’s spent fantasizing about kissing them. And doing… other things with them. He tastes like champagne and beer, not the best combination, but David hardly even notices.

Every place David touches Patrick buzzes with electricity. His lips, slightly parted and moving against Patrick’s. His arms, circling Patrick’s solid form, one hand still clutching his champagne glass. His other hand, on the back of Patrick’s neck, fingers buried in the short hair at his nape. His chest, pressed against Patrick’s. His waist, where Patrick’s hands have come to rest.

He’s spent months being around Patrick and having to resist the pull he felt around him, to resist touching him. All he’s had are a few small, allowed touches, the handshakes, the occasional platonic clap on the shoulder Patrick gives him, the times their hands accidentally brush when handing each other a coffee cup or a jar of hand cream, and the rare, blissful hug to celebrate business going well. He’s survived on those alone for so long. This kiss… well, this kiss feels like his first drink of water after months in a desert.

When he pulls back, Patrick’s eyes stay closed for a few seconds, his lips still slightly open. Then Patrick opens his eyes and David feels the blood drain from his face as he realizes what he’s done. Patrick’s eyes look twice as wide as usual and his surprise is evident.

“Shit,” David says. “I’m so sorry. I’m—I’m kind of drunk.” He’s not that drunk, not drunk enough to excuse a fuckup this big, but if he lets Patrick think he is, maybe this whole thing will be less painfully awkward. David takes a big, unsteady step away from Patrick, almost stumbling in the process. “Shit,” he says again.

“David, wait.” Patrick says, but David’s already halfway across the room, finding an available surface on which to set his champagne glass, and escaping out the nearest door.

He steps out onto the small apartment balcony, shivering from the chill. It’s cold enough that nobody else is out here, which is perfect, because he needs to get away from everyone, to be alone with his thoughts for a while.

He’s fucked things up. He’d been testing their boundaries all evening, getting a little drunk and then pretending to be a little drunker as an excuse to touch Patrick, to run a hand over his bicep, to lean against him as they sat next to each other on the couch, to stand a little too close. He can’t stand it anymore, being around Patrick every day and not getting to touch him. He aches with how much he wants to be near him. Every day it gets harder to work with Patrick and keep his hands, and lips, off him.

But as much as he’d been toeing the line earlier in the evening, it would still have been okay. It would have been explainable. He got a little flirty when he was drunk, that’s all. And handsy. Which was… not great, but it was something they could have come back from. Patrick probably would have teased him about it when they went back to work on January 2nd, teased him a lot, maybe, but that was okay. It wouldn’t change their relationship. But kissing him? That was different. That crossed the line.

David wraps his arms around himself, glad he wore a warm sweater, but still shaking from the cold as he leans against the outer wall of the apartment. He squeezes his eyes shut, head tilting backward, as his thoughts spiral out of control.

Best case scenario, the kiss will make things incredibly awkward between them at work. Patrick will probably guess that David has a huge crush on him, and he won’t say anything, because Patrick is polite, and nice, and a good person, but he’ll distance himself. He’ll probably stop teasing David, out of pity, and David can’t stand that. He doesn’t want Patrick to pity him. And he doesn’t want him to stop teasing him, either. As much as he hates to admit it, David lives for the times when Patrick teases him.

Worst case scenario? Well, worst case scenario David doesn’t even want to think about, but he does anyway, because that’s just how his brain works. It always has to think about the worst case scenario, and then keep thinking about it until it’s analyzed it from every angle and he’s an anxious wreck.

So. Worst case scenario. David has made Patrick so uncomfortable that he’ll quit the store. David will never see him again, and the business will fail without him. David will lose all the money he’s put into the store and he’ll be broke, alone, and miserable, with no purpose in this town or in his life. He sucks in a deep breath and clenches his eyes even tighter, trying to hold back the tears.

Then he hears the apartment door open, sounds of loud talking and laughter spilling out into the cold. He quickly turns away from the sound, trying to hide his face from whoever’s coming out onto the balcony. He hastily wipes his eyes and blinks a few times before turning back to see Patrick standing there, looking adorable in a huge puffer coat and a knit hat with a giant fuzzy pompon on top, and holding David’s coat and scarf.

“It’s cold out here, and I… thought you might want this.” Patrick holds up the coat with the inside facing David, inviting him to step into it.

David isn’t sure what this means, but he’s freezing. He gratefully accepts the offered coat, sliding his arms in and feeling Patrick settle it on his shoulders. When he turns to face him, Patrick isn’t looking at him, but at the scarf, which he loops around David’s neck before finally meeting his eyes.

“Did you just kiss me because you’re drunk?” Patrick asks, and something in his eyes makes David want to tell the truth.

“No,” he admits quietly. “I wasn’t really that drunk." The cold air and the anxiety have done a good job of sobering him up the rest of the way.

“Was it because you wanted to kiss someone, then? Because it’s New Year’s Eve?” He looks worried and hopeful at the same time.

“No,” David says again, wincing as he forces the words out. “I kissed you because… because I wanted to kiss _ you _.”

They stare at each other for one breathless moment before David feels Patrick gently tugging on the ends of the scarf, which he’s still holding, tugging him forward until they’re almost touching, until David can feel his warm breath on his face.

“You left before I could do this,” Patrick says, and then he closes the small gap between them and David feels those soft lips on his again.

Patrick’s kiss is gentle, more tentative than David’s was, until David leans into it and starts kissing him back. Then it’s like he’s given Patrick permission, and Patrick’s kiss becomes more confident, more passionate. He walks David backward until his back hits the wall and presses him against it, one hand firmly holding David’s waist, the other moving up to cup his jaw and caress the thick stubble there. Patrick lets out a soft moan, and the sound sends a wave of lust rolling through David’s body. Patrick overwhelms his senses. He reels at the sensation of being held by Patrick, kissed by Patrick, feeling Patrick’s body pressed against his own. Even like this, with layers of thick winter coats between them, the feel of Patrick’s weight pressing him into the wall is enough to have him wildly turned on.

The sound of singing comes from inside, startling them both. _ Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind… _

Patrick pulls back, looking slightly dazed. Then he ducks his head as a small smile appears on his face. “Do you… want to get out of here?” he asks, turning that smile up towards David. That sweet little smile is warm enough that David can barely feel the chill.

David tries to school his facial expression into something that looks reasonably calm and controlled. “Uh, yeah. Yes. Uh huh,” he nods.

They go back through the apartment and leave the party as quickly as possible, managing to avoid having to talk to anyone. As soon as they’re out the front door, Patrick pulls David back in for another kiss. When they get to the stairs, David stops, one step below Patrick so that they’re eye to eye, and kisses him again, just to see what it’s like when they’re the same height. At the bottom of the stairs, Patrick kisses him one more time, holding him close before they step out the door of the apartment building and into the cold.

Grabbing David’s hand, Patrick runs for his car, starting the heater as soon as they’re inside. “Are you good to drive?” David asks. He’s not sure how much Patrick has been drinking.

“Yeah, I just had one beer earlier tonight and a couple sips of champagne at midnight. I’m fine. Completely sober.” He gives David a soft smile.

“Me too,” David says. “I really wasn’t that drunk, when I kissed you before. Just enough to do what I’d been wanting to do for a while now.” David cringes a little when he realizes what he just admitted.

Patrick’s eyes widen a little, then go soft as his face slowly breaks into a radiant grin. “I’ve been wanting to do that for a while, too,” he says, blushing a little. He leans in to give David a kiss that feels softer, slower, more serious than their earlier frenzied passion.

“Okay, as much as I want to keep doing this,” David says when they break apart, “it’s too cold in the car, and you can’t keep running the engine forever.”

“Ray will probably be home from his party soon,” Patrick says, wincing.

“I’m guessing Alexis will be staying at Ted’s tonight, but my parents are still in the next room, so my place is out of the question,” David says.

They’re both quiet for a moment.

“The store?” Patrick suggests.

“The store.” David agrees.

Patrick takes the car out of park and then takes hold of David’s hand. He keeps holding it as he begins the short drive to the store, and David thinks about how grateful he is for automatic transmissions.

“When you kissed me at midnight,” Patrick says, breaking the quiet, “that was my first time. With a guy, I mean.”

“Oh. Okay,” David isn’t sure what to say, so he stays quiet, makes space for Patrick to say whatever he needs to.

“I’ve been trying to get up the courage to kiss you for months, David. So. Thank you. For finally making that happen for us.”

David smiles, overwhelmed by Patrick’s sincerity. “Well, luckily I’m a very generous person,” he says. “And… I’ve been wanting to kiss you for months, too. I just… didn’t know you wanted it.”

Patrick scoffs. “Seriously? I’ve been flirting with you since the day we met!”

David’s face runs through a series of incredulous expressions. “Oh. I. Okay.” He shakes his head.

Patrick shakes his head too, disbelieving. “I can’t believe we’ve wasted all this time.” He stops at a stop sign and leans over for a quick kiss before continuing down the street.

“Well, we can make up for lost time starting tonight,” David says, trying to sound sexy.

Patrick lets out a breathy laugh. “I definitely want to. But I think I need to take things a little slow,” he says. “I just told you, I’ve never been with a guy before. So. I would like to continue… what we started at the party. But I don’t think I’m ready for, uh, for sex yet. And I don’t really want our first time together to be in the back of the store.”

“Okay,” David smiles. He’s never been happier to have someone tell him they don’t want to sleep with him. Because Patrick said “our first time together” in a way that implied that he wants a first time with David, and a second time, and more times after that. That implied that he wants it to be special, and wants whatever this is between them to last.

Patrick brings David’s hand up to his mouth and kisses it before he lets go to park the car, and that’s when David realizes they’ve arrived at the store.

They get inside as quickly as possible, not bothering to turn any of the lights on. The moonlight through the windows is just enough to see by. In the storeroom, Patrick turns the heat on, then immediately backs David up against the nearest wall and starts exactly where they left off on the apartment balcony, kissing David so confidently he can’t believe his first kiss with a man was less than an hour ago.

As the heat kicks in, they begin to shed their outer layers, starting with Patrick’s hat, David running his fingers through the short, soft hair underneath as he removes it. Patrick looks so adorable with his hair rumpled and the tips of his ears still pink from the cold, David can’t help but lean in for another quick kiss before starting on his puffer coat. With that thick layer off, David takes a moment to admire what’s underneath. Patrick is wearing a dark gray sweater, so soft when David runs his hands over Patrick’s chest and shoulders, such a delicious contrast to the firm, muscled form underneath.

His hands clearly have an effect on Patrick, whose breathing gets heavier, and then he’s tugging at David’s scarf and coat, pulling them off and tossing them onto a nearby box. His eyes drop to the newly exposed skin at David’s neck, and then he’s moving in to kiss him there, to lick and suck and—_ oh my god _ —bite at David’s throat. A moan escapes David’s lips, and that spurs Patrick on, and his lips and tongue and teeth against the pulse point at David’s neck might be the most blissful thing David has ever felt. He could die happy right now, feeling like this. He _ might _ die from this.

He feels Patrick nudge his legs apart and slot one of his thick thighs between David’s, feels Patrick’s hip against his groin and Patrick’s erection against his thigh, and that brings his cock from semi- to fully hard. He presses his hips tentatively into Patrick’s and feels Patrick growl into his neck and grind back against him in response. David shudders and involuntarily bucks his hips, and then they’re dry humping like teenagers until finally David puts his hands on Patrick’s shoulders and pushes him back, holding him at arm’s length. Patrick looks at him like he wants to destroy him, to tear him apart with tender caresses and rough strokes, and David wants nothing more than to be destroyed, but he reminds himself of their conversation in the car and takes a moment to catch his breath.

“You said you didn’t want to have sex tonight,” he says, trying not to sound as needy as he feels. “We need to slow things down or else I’m gonna come in my pants.”

Patrick shivers. That might have been the wrong thing to say if he was trying to get him to calm down.

“Or… boundaries? At any rate? We should… set some?” This is new territory for David. He’s never taken things slow with anyone before; nobody’s ever wanted to take things slow with him. Nobody’s ever cared enough about him to want that.

Patrick closes his eyes, takes a deep breath. Nods. “Clothes stay on,” he says. “Hands stay outside of clothes. Um. Does that cover it?”

“What about touching… through clothes?”

“Um.” Patrick’s eyes fly open, his mouth going slack. He takes a breath as he considers. “I. Uh. Maybe not this time? I think that might be enough to make me, uh,”—he blushes—“come in my pants.”

David nods, biting his lips. Does Patrick even know how sexy he is? David thinks that he probably doesn’t. And that he probably shouldn’t tell him, or Patrick will definitely use it against him, and he’ll be fucked. Like, figuratively. Unfortunately.

“Okay,” David says, taking Patrick’s hands and leading him over to the storeroom couch. They put it in here for breaks, theoretically, but since they hardly ever have time for breaks and it takes up valuable space that they could be using for storage, David has often contemplated getting rid of it. He’s glad he hasn’t, now. He has a feeling he’ll be grateful for it a lot, from now on.

They start making out again, slowly this time, soft, lingering kisses. It’s easier to keep things slow, sitting side by side like this, than when he was up against the wall, feeling all of Patrick pressed against him. David sucks gently on Patrick’s bottom lip, just because he’s wanted to for so long, has always thought it looked plump and delicious and so sweet, and now he finally can. It’s every bit as good as he imagined.

He trails soft kisses along Patrick’s jaw to just behind his ear, licks at the spot there until he hears Patrick let out a little groan of pleasure. He nibbles at Patrick’s ear, sucks his earlobe, licks along the curve of it, and is rewarded with more needy sounds from Patrick. He’s always liked Patrick’s ears, how round they are, how they stick out slightly, or maybe it’s his short haircut that makes them look that way. Either way, they’re cute, and he shows them his appreciation now.

Patrick has a hand in his hair now, and it’s gonna be a mess tomorrow, but he doesn’t care because it feels so good. His fingers are trailing across David’s scalp, scratching gently, and David never wants it to stop.

When David pulls back for air, Patrick pushes him gently, guiding him to lie back on the sofa, climbing on top of him as he does. David can feel Patrick’s erection pressing into his hip again, but Patrick keeps kissing him slowly, lazily, all urgency dissolved now. He kisses down David’s stubbled jaw and throat, nuzzling his nose into the little bit of chest hair that pokes up over the loose collar of his sweater. David thinks how much he wants to do the same, to kiss that distracting place at the top of Patrick’s chest that always shows when he wears his button-up shirts with the top two buttons undone. But this feels so good, and it’s so late, and he’s starting to get sleepy now that he’s horizontal, starting to drift a little, eyes falling shut under Patrick’s tender attention.

“I really like you, David,” Patrick murmurs into his skin. “I like you so much.” And it’s enough, for now, to extinguish his doubts, to reassure him that Patrick won’t run away screaming, at least not tomorrow.

“I like you too,” he says, sleep slowing his voice.

Patrick kisses him gently on the forehead, eyelids, cheeks, the tip of his nose, and, finally, so softly, on the mouth, and nobody, nobody has ever made David feel like this before. Special. Cared for. Cherished.

As he drifts off to sleep with Patrick’s arms around him and his head settled against his chest, he thinks that if this is what his year is going to be like, it might just be good enough to make up for all the ones that came before.

David wakes up on the storeroom couch on the first morning of a new year with sunlight streaming in through the stained glass window and the pleasant weight of Patrick half on top of him. He kisses the top of Patrick’s head and gazes down at his peaceful sleeping face. He’s so beautiful.

He must feel David starting to stir, because he blinks his eyes open and smiles sleepily up at David.

“Good morning,” he croaks out groggily.

“Happy New Year,” David replies.

Patrick slowly sits up from his spot, wedged between David and the back of the couch, and David immediately misses the weight of him. His back should be in all sorts of pain now from sleeping like that, but as he sits up, limbs tangling with Patrick’s, and stretches, he finds he feels good. Great, even. He slept surprisingly well.

Patrick gives David a shy smile, blushing a little, and it’s so goddamn cute. David pulls him in for a good morning kiss, not even caring if he has morning breath.

Patrick leans his head on David’s shoulder. “Wanna go get breakfast at the cafe?” he asks.

“Yeah, that sounds good,” David says, taking Patrick’s hand and intertwining their fingers in his lap.

Patrick stands, pulling David up with him and giving him a quick kiss on the mouth. “It’s a date.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to my wonderful beta reader, Timmers. I, too, am glad you didn't read this in public.
> 
> Follow us on <strike>tweeters</strike> [tumblr](https://schittposting.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
